'LeT Didn’t Approach Riot Victims'

Amid a political slugfest over terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba’s alleged attempt to recruit riot victims in Muzaffarnagar, Delhi police on Tuesday clarified that suspected terrorists arrested by its special cell had been in touch with two residents of the region, but they were not riot victims.

Delhi police said Shahid and Rashid, alleged LeT operatives and natives of Bazeedpur, Mewat, had met Liyakat and Zameer, Muzaffarnagar residents, to plan a kidnapping to raise money to build a mosque and other activities. “I would like to make it very clear that both Liyakat and Zameer are not victims of the Muzaffarnagar riots; they have nothing to do with them. Although they live in Muzaffarnagar, they are not riot victims,” Special Commissioner S N Shrivastava said.

Divulging details of a meeting between the suspected terrorists and two residents of Muzaffarnagar, Shrivastava said Liyakat, who works in Education department, was known to terrorists who spent a night at his residence. Both LeT operatives, Shahid and Rashid, were picked up by the Special Cell on December 10 last year and revealed the details of the meeting after sustained interrogation.

Meanwhile, sources in the Home Ministry, citing Intelligence Bureau interceptions and a subsequent report, said there was no input to suggest that ISI approached victims in Muzaffarnagar riot relief camps. Intelligence officials and the MHA had earlier countered Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s statement that Pakistan’s ISI was trying to recr­uit youth from among Muslim riot victims in Muzaffarnagar.

Shedding light on reports that suspected operatives of the banned terrorist outfit LeT had met victims of the Muzaffarnagar riots, Shrivastava said a meeting did indeed take place between the suspected terrorists and two residents of Muzaffarnagar, but that they were not among those affected by the riots and had nothing to do with the violence there.

Delhi police said Shahid and Rashid, alleged LeT operatives and natives of Bazeedpur, Mewat, had met Liyakat and Zameer, Muzaffarnagar residents, to plan a kidnapping to raise money for building a mosque and other activities.

“We came to know that they were in contact with some people living in Muzaffarnagar. When we asked them about this, they told us that Rashid, along with another man, whom I cannot name right now, had gone to Deoband.

On their way back, they telephoned one Liyakat, who was already known to them and told him that they would stay at his house for the night and take a train to Palwal, Mewat in the morning,” Shrivastava said.

The suspected terrorists, who stayed at Liyakat’s house, were accompanied by him to Thana Bhavan railway station in the morning. Liyakat, 58, who works in the Education department also called a friend Zameer, a petty criminal, asking him to arrange tea for his guests. One of the suspected terrorists, whom Delhi police refused to identify, later called up Zameer asking him to help in building a mosque. He told Zameer that they could stage a kidnapping to raise money, but would require more people for a successful operation.

Delhi police said the suspected terrorists in its custody had met Zameer twice in Delhi, but he panicked and backed out. He also cut off all contact with them.

Police have recorded the statement of Liyakat and Zameer under Section 161 CrPC and 164 CrPC.

Meanwhile, sources in the Home Ministry, citing Intelligence Bureau interception and a subsequent report, said there was no intelligence input to suggest ISI approached victims in Muzaffarnagar riot relief camps.

No intel on lashkar recruitment drive

“IB intercepted several conversations in November last year between alleged Lashkar-e-Toiba commander Javed Baluchi and a suspected LeT module in Mewat, but found no evidence to suggest that the terrorists met victims in the relief camps,” a source said.

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